USA

Gaelic

US01
Robert Barclay

US02
Battles of Dunbar & Worcester

US03
Merrymeeting Bay

US04
Crown of Maine

US05
District of Maine

US06
Colonel Ninian Beall

US07
Hugh Mercer

US08
Tobacco Factors

US09
John Knox Witherspoon

US10
Flora Macdonald

US11
We are All Related

US12
Chief William McIntosh

           

            

US13
Chief John Ross

US14
The Trail of Tears

US15
Kate Cumming

US15A
Last Princess of Hawaii

US16
Roderick Mackenzie

US17
Granite Worker

US18
Andrew Carnegie

US19
John Muir: Dunbar

US20
John Muir: Marquette County

US21
John Muir: Sierra Nevada

US22
John Muir: John of the Mountains

US23
Donaldina Cameron

US24
Tartan Day

US25
John Milligan: Mountain Climber

It is difficult to overstate the extent of the Scottish Diaspora in the USA. A careful glance at the map can reveal at least eight places named Scotland, eight called Edinburgh and as many known as Aberdeen, alongside seven American Glasgows and countless places named for or by Scottish settlers and immigrants. There is a Presbyterian church millions strong, and over three hundred Scottish societies. The sound of the pipes, the sight of tartan, and stories of Flora Macdonald are as familiar in parts of the US as in Scotland.

Religion and education, often going hand-in-hand, form a considerable part of the Scottish legacy in the US. In the early colonial period of the mid-seventeenth century, when religious and political discord in Scotland was sufficient to cause civil war, the new colonies on America’s eastern seaboard offered great appeal for those seeking a new start. The distance from central government was a considerable attraction. Many of the issues which encouraged dissenters, persecuted groups, and those seeking opportunity to leave Scotland continued into the eighteenth century. Once French colonial ambitions had been restrained after the French and Indian Wars, large areas of the American interior were opened up for traders and trappers, attracting Scots in considerable numbers just as the same circumstances did in Canada.

American colonial communities were as eager to entice valuable individuals to the new world as some Scots were to make the move. For example, John Witherspoon from East Lothian (right) was approached several times with job offers: he had a reputation as a preacher and was head-hunted. He initially resisted the idea, but accepted the presidency of the College of New Jersey (later Princeton University) in 1768. As the colonies drifted towards the Revolution, Witherspoon remembered his service against the Jacobites in Scotland and chose to oppose moves to centralise British authority: his signature is on the Declaration of Independence. Since then there have been eleven American presidents who could claim Scottish ancestry. Even “Uncle Sam” is believed to be based on the Greenock-born merchant Samuel Wilson!

Scottish contributions to the USA also include the establishment of medical colleges – perhaps as many as 3,500 Scottish doctors were practicing in American by the outbreak of the Revolution. King’s College for example, the first medical school in New York, was founded by Edinburgh university graduates John Kay and Samuel Bard.

Links between the US and Scotland were particularly strong around Glasgow and the west coast, largely due to Glasgow’s access to the Atlantic and its development as a major importer of tobacco and cotton. Emmigration to American continued through the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, often coinciding with economic difficulties at home. Not all were as fortunate as the Fife-born Andrew Carnegie in making their fortunes, and many found that the scale of immigration (including those arriving from Ireland and elsewhere in Europe) made it as difficult to find work in America as it was in the old country.

Today there are an estimated 28.9million Americans who claim that part of their ancestry is Scottish. The strength of this connection is visibly manifest in the number of Scottish associations, clan societies, Burns societies, highland gatherings and Tartan Day celebrations.

Na Stàitean Aonaichte

Chan eil e duilich iomradh a dhèanamh air meud an Diaspora Albannach sna Stàitean Aonaichte. Tha sùil gheur air a’ mhapa a’ nochdadh co-dhiù ochd àiteachan air an ainmeachadh às dèidh Alba, ochd leis an ainm Dùn Èideann agus a leithid eile leis an ainm Obar Dheathain, ri taobh seachd ainmichte agus measgachadh gun àireamh de dh’àiteachan air an ainmeachadh do no le luchd-tuineachaidh agus in-imrich à Alba. Tha eaglais Chlèireach ann le coitheanal de mhilleanan agus còrr air trì cheud comann Albannach. Tha fuaim na pìoba, sealladh air an tartan, agus sgeulachdan mu Fhlòraidh Dhòmhnallach cho cumanta ann an ceàrnaidhean de na Stàitean Aonaichte ’s a tha iad ann an Alba.

 Tha foghlam agus creideamh, a bhios gu tric a’ dol le chèile, a’ cumadh pàirt mhòr den dìleab Albannaich anns na Stàitean. Tràth san àm choloiniach ann am meadhan na seachdamh linn deug nuair a bha easaonta chreideamhach is phoilitigeach ann an Alba gu leòr airson cogadh catharra adhbhrachadh, bha na coloinidhean ùra air costa an ear Aimeireagaidh a’ tairgsinn tarraing mhòr don fheadhainn a bha a’ sireadh beatha ùr. Lean mòran de na cùisean a bha a’ brosnachadh easaontaich, buidhnean geur-leanmhainn agus iadsan a’ sireadh cothrom air Alba fhàgail, a-steach don ochdamh linn deug. Aon uair ’s gun deach casg air rùintean coloiniach nam Frangach an dèidh nan cogaidhean Frangach is Ìnnseanach, chaidh caoibean mòra de mheadhan Aimeireagaidh fhosgladh a-mach do mhalairtich agus ghlacadairean, a’ tarraing Albannaich ann an àireamhan mòra dìreach mar a rinn an t-aon suidheachadh ann an Canada.

 Bha coimhearsnachdan coloiniach ann an Aimeireaga a cheart cho dealasach gus daoine luachmhor fa leth a thàladh don t-saoghal ùr agus a bha cuid de dh’Albannaich gluasad ann. Mar eisimpleir, chaidh labhairt ri Iain Witherspoon à Lodainn an Ear (deas) grunn tursan mu thairgsean obrach: bha cliù aige mar shearmonaiche agus chaidh a shireadh a-mach. Chaidh e an aghaidh an tairgse sa chiad àite ach ghabh e ri obair ceann-suidhe na Colaiste ann an New Jersey (Oilthigh Princeton) ann an 1768.  Fhad ’s a bha na coloinidhean a’ sruthadh a dh’ionnsaigh na Reabhlaid, chuimhnich Witherspoon air a shearmoin an aghaidh nan Seumasach ann an Alba agus roghnaich e a dhol an aghaidh ghluasadan gus ùghdarras Breatannach a thoirt a-steach don mheadhan: tha a làmh-sgrìobhaidh air Foirgheall na Neo-eisimeileachd. On uair sin, tha a h-aon-deug Chinn-suidhe ann an Aimeireagaidh a dh’fhaodadh an sinnsearachd a thoirt à Alba. Thathar a’ creidsinn gun tàinig fiù “Uncail Somhairlebho Shomhairle MacUilleam, marsantach a rugadh ann an Grianaig!

Tha luchd-cuideachaidh Albannach eile a’ gabhail a-steach stèidheachd nan colaistean meidigeach – bha ’s dòcha uimhir ri 3,500 dotair Albannach ag obair ann an Aimeireaga ron àm a bhris an Reabhlaid a-mach. Bha Colaiste an Rìgh mar eisimpleir, a’ chiad sgoil mheidigeach ann an New York, air a stèidheachadh le ceumnaichean  à Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann, Iain Kay agus Somhairle Baird.

 Bha ceanglaichean eadar na Stàitean Aonaichte agus Alba gu h-àraid làidir timcheall air Glaschu agus a’ chosta an iar, sa mhòr-chuid mar thoradh air fagasachd Ghlaschu air a’ Chuan Shiar agus mar a leasaich am baile mar phrìomh in-mhalairteach air cotan agus tombaca. Lean às-imrich a dh’Aimeireagadh tron naoidheamh linn deug agus tràth san fhicheadamh linn, glè thric a’ co-thuiteam le duilgheadasan eaconamach aig an taigh. Cha robh iad uile cho sealbhach ri Anndra Carnegie a rugadh ann am Fìobha air a bhith a’ dèanamh am fortan, agus fhuair mòran dhiubh a-mach gun robh an ìre in-imrich (a’ gabhail a-steach iadsan a’ tighinn à Èirinn agus àiteachan eile san Roinn Eòrpa) ga dhèanamh cho duilich obair a lorg ann an Aimeireagadh ’s a bha e san t-seann dùthaich.

An-diugh, tha mu thimcheall air 28.9 millean Aimeireaganach ann a tha a’ dleasadh sinnsearachd Albannach. Tha neart a’ cheangail seo gu faicsinneach follaiseach anns an àireamh de chomainn Albannach, comainn cinnidh, comainn Burns, cruinneachaidhean Gàidhealach agus subhachasan Latha Tartain.